Alternating decks

Thanks for your response and the link, you too seem to be tweaking base knowledge. If a pack leads you to different and non-standard interpretations would those overlap with standard interpretations to be applied to other packs or are they just pinned on a particular deck exclusively?

Well, in the words of Prof. Dumbledore; "Yes ... and no."

It really depends on how far "out there" a new interpretation might be. For the most part, when I get some new insight on a given card, I will note it down in my journal. If it is a significantly different interpretation, but one that I think might be relevant to my future studies of the card, I'll make note of the interpretation as well as when I did the reading that spawned it. This way I can also go back and look at the context (if I made notes of the reading). If it's a tweak of the conventional meanings or adds some nuance, I'll just make a quick note.

However, if it's something that was a message brought specifically for that person say, from their own spirit guides or some ancestor spirit, then no I usually don't make note of it, except in notes I might have of the specific reading. That's because it is only really relevant to that reading for that person at that time.

So, for example, I added a note to my page on Strength some time back; "Gaining understanding of, and overcoming one's painful experiences which are the roots of one's 'negative' emotions." It was just a tweak that occurred to me on a reading, I think with the Röhrig Tarot. But I also remember a reading I gave several years ago where my guides brought a message for the person from a great-grandmother (I think that was the realationship - female spirit anyway) - I don't remember the specific message anymore, but that didn't go into my card journal as it would not be relevant to anything else.

Most of the time, when I'm using decks other than the "standard" RWS or Thoth, the images tend to just lead me to certain aspects of the usual meanings. It's a little hard to explain I guess.

I only use one deck along with the lovers tarot which consists of just the majors where base meanings are the same but with a relationship twist on them. For those of you who alternate decks I'm curious to know would different decks give you the same meanings/reading or would results be different with a different pack?

I have about 120 decks and I use them all. So LOTS of alternating. I don't use the same decks often. Although some are Oracles too.

My answer is that yes, any deck you use will give you the same meaning. In other words, if you ask any deck a question the deck will answer it. There is one answer out there that is the true correct answer to the question you asked. And that should come up no matter which deck you use.

BUT, each deck can talk differently and has a somewhat different voice. That means that they will lead you to the answer differently. It may even happen that in one deck you might get one card as the answer and in a very different deck a different card might come up. Yet both should lead you to the same place.

When you ask, whichever deck you use, the accurate answer will come and you will find truth and wisdom. But may take slightly different forms because of the deck's personality. But still truth should come.

As in imagine you had 3 different friends who all knew the answer to something you needed to know. If you asked each the same question, they may word things differently because of their different personalities, but the answer that you seek would be in essence end up being the same from each.

Although there is also the issue of the card images. Half of more of my meaning comes from the image itself intuitively. And each deck is artistically different. That means, for me that I need to be careful which deck I choose in a reading. I need to really SENSE before I start which deck is calling to me, so the artwork of the cards that come up will mesh well with the intended meaning.

Also I find that when I choose to COMBINE decks and ask them both the same question together in a reading, what happens I believe is that whatever sends the answers realizes what I am doing and that I am asking two decks simultaneously the same question. Then what happens is that the answers to the second deck pick up where the first left off and add on to the meaning. And all the cards in both decks work together to tell the complete story.

Further to my earlier comments, there's really no point in having more than one deck if you are going to stick slavishly to set meanings. Play with your decks. The same card in different decks will have different colours, different features. How do those differences make you feel? Work that into your interpretations.

Further to my earlier comments, there's really no point in having more than one deck if you are going to stick slavishly to set meanings. Play with your decks. The same card in different decks will have different colours, different restores. How do those differences make you feel? Work that into your interpretations.

This makes sense to me too. If you were going to read each deck exactly the same, it seems to me that there would be no real point in having more than one deck.

This makes sense to me too. If you were going to read each deck exactly the same, it seems to me that there would be no real point in having more than one deck.

Babs

For all practical purposes there really isn't, which is why I read exclusively with the Thoth deck for almost forty years before buying another. The only reason I expanded my palette was because the familiar RWS model seems to go over better with paying clients, probably because it's what they're accustomed to. Even then, I use my Thoth-based familiarity with correspondences to flesh out my interpretations for RWS cards (which isn't that much of a stretch since both systems are based on the Golden Dawn blueprint).

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